Cheshire Community Foundation Limited

Cheshire Community Foundation Limited, established in 2011, is an independent regional charity serving Cheshire East, Cheshire West, and Warrington with the vision of creating thriving communities by tackling poverty, disadvantage, and inequality. It channels local philanthropy into high-impact, evidence-based grants, having distributed over £14 million to more than 2,000 grassroots organisations. Aligned with six UN Sustainable Development Goals—no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, reduced inequalities, and climate action—its ethos emphasises early interventions, community resilience, local knowledge, partnerships, and measurable outcomes, prioritising deprived wards via the Index of Multiple Deprivation.

The foundation funds mental health and wellbeing initiatives, support for marginalised and low-income families, skills and employment programmes, youth diversionary activities, food and digital poverty relief, and efforts addressing isolation, loneliness, and parenting challenges. Beneficiaries include young people, older adults, people with disabilities, those with poor mental health, and hardship-affected families. Supported activities encompass project delivery, core costs (including salaries), small capital, equipment, volunteer expenses, and overheads, typically for 12-month projects, with examples like youth enterprise grants, sports interventions for at-risk youth, and COVID-19 responses.

Eligible applicants are UK-registered charities and community groups delivering in Cheshire East, Cheshire West, or Warrington—prioritising small grassroots organisations with incomes below £1 million, though no strict limits apply. It accepts unsolicited online applications (with accessible alternatives like paper or verbal) for rolling programmes with quarterly panels in March, May, August, and October, plus themed calls (e.g., Summer Open Grants closing 20 July 2025). Typical grants range from £500 to £50,000 (most £1,000–£25,000), with decisions in 3 weeks. Distinctives include donor-advised funds, flexible responses to needs, ethical endowments, and a high front-line funding ratio; it avoids projects where costs barrier engagement, favouring inclusive, collaborative, SDG-aligned work with strong evidence of need and impact.